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I’m using a free VPN service called Speedify (used in load balancing two networks). I’m worried it they might be listening to personal data transfers (like login IDs etc.). So I installed another VPN called Hoxx. Now it’s not that I trust Hoxx completely but I think that VPN chaining will prevent either of the providers from latching on to personal data.

Am I right in guessing that this VPN linking is secure?

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    That question talks about anonymity to the outside world, however, I'm trying to know if the VPN service provider can "read" the data being sent.
    – Ashwin Kumar k
    Dec 29, 2017 at 13:08
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    The 2nd VPN server is like an exit node and exit nodes cannot be trusted.
    – defalt
    Dec 29, 2017 at 13:14
  • If you connect two networks via VPN, why do you need a provider at all? Those are for tinfoil-hat people who fear that someone reads their porn mail or whatever. For connecting two networks, you run OpenVPN or something similar on one network, and connect from the other, preferrably with pre-shared keys. There is no provider other than yourself.
    – Damon
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:16

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No matter how many VPN/proxy you use together there is always one which communicates directly with your browser and one which communicates directly with the target server. In both cases any unencrypted data can be extracted by the VPN, i.e. username and passwords in case of plain HTTP (instead HTTPS) connections, target hostname even with HTTPS connections etc.

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  • So that means that sites that have an https connection ensure that my username and password (and the data transmitted) remains inaccessible by the VPN providers. But not so in the case of an http connection.
    – Ashwin Kumar k
    Dec 29, 2017 at 13:01
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    @AshwinKumark: exactly. With HTTPS you get browser-to-server encryption which protects username and password against sniffing by anybody in between, no matter if VPN or ISP. With plain HTTP you don't get end-to-end encryption and thus the VPN provider can get access to the unprotected data.
    – Steffen Ullrich
    Dec 29, 2017 at 13:07
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    @AshwinKumarkit should also be noted however that a VPN will help protect the end server from knowing the browser's ip (in a perfect world) as well as preventing your ISP from knowing what end server you are connecting too. This is useful if you trust the VPN provider more than the local ISP (free wifi at coffee shop) or the end server
    – CaffeineAddiction
    Dec 29, 2017 at 16:18
  • Does this mean that you're less secure because both VPNs can see your information??
    – Byte11
    Dec 29, 2017 at 17:44
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    @Byte11 no, if you Nest VPNs only 1 will see your information, if you chain them, both could see your information (if it is http opposed to https) however only one will be able to see the true source and the other will only be able to see the true destination.
    – CaffeineAddiction
    Dec 29, 2017 at 20:46
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The answer to your question (whether this kind of VPN chaining would prevent either provider from spying on you) is NO. If you run VPN-over-VPN this is VPN nesting, not chaining, and the "top" VPN server (i.e. the one you run the last) will have access to all of your VPN-unencrypted traffic.

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In this case Hoxx is the only VPN that you need to trust, they handle your plaintext private communication. Speedify does nothing to protect your data from Hoxx.

Speedify only sees traffic that is encrypted by the Hoxx VPN, so your privacy is somewhat protected from them.

Using multiple VPNs can never protect you from the innermost layer, which will always need to decrypt your plaintext data at the endpoint.

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VPNs protect you from outside parties, they do not protect you from insiders (i.e. from themselves).

If you don't trust your VPN, then you need end-to-end-encryption which you can get with TLS (aka SSL). If you are worried about logins, checking that the login pages are HTTPS instead of plain HTTP gives you more security than layering another VPN on top.

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